Eastern Bluebird males

Be he slender or fluffy, soaking wet, suffering in the heat or hunkered down in the cold winds of winter, the male Eastern Bluebird is to me the most photogenic of all the American song birds. Nearly all of the photos in this gallery are of Papa, my adult male Bluebird. He lived in my yard from 2004 until June of 2009, and fathered more than 55 offspring during that time. I have shot more than 75 thousand pictures of him: wing-waving, mating, feeding nestlings, teaching fledglings, and through it all, protecting his family. I of course, knew him by sight and he is identifiable in many of these shots by the broken middle toe on his left foot. Sadly, he was trapped in an empty nest box and killed by a house sparrow while Mama was sitting on a nest with five eggs. A replacement showed up less than 7 hours later and he continues to do a wonderful job. I love him already but he is still only a replacement and for me there will never be another quite like Papa.